The Valley Roots, young Muscle Shoals band, playing SXSW showcase

View full sizeThe Valley Roots, a southern-flavored rock band from the Shoals area, will perform at a showcase during the 2013 South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. (Contributed photo)

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. -- The band just formed about seven months ago.

And the members are only ages 19 to 23, but Muscle Shoals act
The Valley Roots is playing a showcase during South By Southwest, the annual Austin,
Texas conference/festival that's one of the biggest music industry events of
the year, and commonly referred to in print as SXSW.

"We're actually playing with The Swampers (the iconic rhythm
section) from Muscle Shoals Sound," vocalist Brittany Letsinger, 23, says of
the gig. "It's going to be cool getting
to hang out with them and hear them play."

The Valley Roots are schedule to play 7:20-7:45 p.m. March 14 at The
Stage On Sixth Patio (located at 508 E. 6th St. in Austin), as part
of a "Muscle Shoals Showcase." In addition
to Letsinger, the band's lineup features guitarists Christian White and Edward
Armstead, drummer Quinn Stamphill and bassist CJ Anderson.

The group's musical
influences include The Rolling Stones, Etta James, Wilson Pickett and John
Mayer.

Daniel Horton, who co-founded Harvest record label Dirrty
Apple Records with Jake England, first saw The Valley Roots during a 2012 performance at Florence's Pegasus Records.

"We were just blown away," Horton, 28, says. A graphic
designer by day, he's calling from his home office. "I had seen a lot of great
shows last year - the Civil Wars, Alabama Shakes - but (The Valley Roots) put
on the best live show I'd seen all year. They all had a really engaging personality
onstage. They don't just play, they throw a party. Come to find out later, that
was only the second show they'd ever done."

The Valley Roots have released a four-song EP, available as a free download on Dirrty Apple's Facebook page. The material was recorded
at the Nutthouse Recording Studio in Sheffield.

"Everyone in our band is a singer and a songwriter," Letsinger
says. She and the rest of the group are lounging at Stamphill's home when she's
reached via phone for this interview. "Sometimes it goes to three- or five-part
harmonies."

So how did Dirrty Apple Records manage to get The Valley
Roots, which didn't even exist eight months ago, a SXSW gig?

"I'd attended SXSW for the last couple years as a
fan," Horton says, "and from talking to bands there, it was easy to
see it was all about networking. The Shoals is a great and growing music
community, and The Valley Roots have been able to network through Cherokee
Lair, 6 Degrees of Muscle Shoals, and other talented local bands to make this
happen. "

Both of North Alabama's biggest breakthrough acts from the last couple years, the Civil Wars and Alabama Shakes have previously performed at SXSW.

Of course, Litsinger shares a first name with a well-known
North Alabama female singer, the Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard. I ask Letsinger
if Howard is an inspiration to her. "I think she's pretty awesome," she says of Howard. "She
just goes out and does her thing and doesn't care about what anybody else thinks.
She knows who she is. And yes, she's
inspirational. The Shakes are incredible."

Letsinger is jazzed about The Valley Roots being part of a
new wave of Muscle Shoals music.

"Everybody in Muscle Shoals is kind of like a family, and
the new sound of Muscle Shoals is really exciting to be a part of. If one band
makes it, we all kind of make it."